This invention relates to a connector having a contacting portion to be brought into butt contact with a mating object and, in particular, to a connector having a contact cleaning function achieved by sliding a contacting portion with respect to a mating object during connecting and disconnecting operations.
For example, a conventional connector of the type is disclosed in Japanese patent No. 3035776. The conventional connector includes a plug housing comprising an insulator and a conductive plug contact held by the plug housing. The plug contact has a conductive protruding contacting portion to be brought into contact with a mating object in a first direction, and a spring portion elastically supporting the protruding contacting portion in the first direction and in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction.
On the other hand, the mating object includes a conductive receptacle contact having a V-shaped contacting portion and a receptacle housing comprising an insulator and holding the receptacle contact.
The plug housing and the receptacle housing have shapes and dimensions such that these housings can be fitted or coupled to each other. The protruding contacting portion and the V-shaped contacting portion have a positional relationship such that these contacting portions are faced to each other in the first direction to be slightly eccentric or offset from each other at the start of coupling of the plug housing and the receptacle housing. With the progress of the coupling, the protruding contacting portion is brought into contact with a slant surface of the V-shaped contacting portion and then slides along the slant surface towards a bottom of the V-shaped contacting portion. When the contacting portion reaches the bottom of the V-shaped contacting portion, the spring portion has an unbalanced displacement. During the sliding movement, contact points between the plug contact and the receptacle contact are cleaned. Thus, a contact cleaning function is achieved.
However, since the protruding contacting portion moves in the second direction during the sliding movement along the slant surface of the V-shaped contacting portion, the spring portion may interfere with the insulator with having the unbalanced displacement thereof. Depending upon the magnitude of the displacement of the spring portion, expected contacting force can not be obtained and a predetermined operation of the plug contact may be inhibited. Furthermore, since the mating object has the V-shaped contacting portion, dust may be trapped and deposited at the bottom thereof to cause insufficient or defective contact. In addition, while the connector is connected to the mating object, the spring portion keeps the unbalanced displacement. Therefore, the reliability of contact is low.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a connector excellent in reliability of contact.
It is another object of this invention to provide a connector capable of achieving a contact cleaning function with a structure such that a spring portion does not have an unbalanced displacement when the connector is connected to a mating object.
Other objects of the present invention will become clear as the description proceeds.
According to this invention, there is provided a connector including a conductive contacting portion having a contact point formed at its one end to be brought into contact with a mating object in a first direction at a predetermined position, a spring portion supporting the contacting portion so that the contact point is elastically movable in the first direction and a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, and displacement maintaining means for maintaining the contact point in a specific condition such that the contact point is offset from the predetermined position in the second direction. The displacement maintaining means releases the specific condition when the contacting portion is moved in a direction opposite to the first direction.